faq
Will you be touring?
There are no plans for solo, Hala Strana or Ulaan Khol shows or tours. Thuja does convene from time to time to play when we can all get together. Any shows or relevant info will be listed in the news section.
I enjoyd the Hala Strana releases, what are some records of traditional music form Eastern or Central Europe that I might like?
Check the records that are listed in the Fielding Sources page on this site. Those are some really great recordings, some of which go back to the early part of last century. There are lots of other great recordings as well, that list might just be a good place to get started. For more current groups and recordings, try "the Prisoner's Song" by Muzsikas or pickup the self-titled disc by Taraf de Haidouks on Nonesuch which are both personal faves.
Where did you get/how did you build your hurdy gurdy?
That was something I built for the Hala Strana records based off of the hurdy plans found on the wonderful and informative site put up by Dennis Havlena
( http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/ ). Mine's a bit different from the one on Dennis's site in that it has a small fretboard with frets instead of a peg box. This type is sometimes called a hurdy-dulcimer or a fretted hurdy gurdy.
Can I record at Worstward Studios?
Worstward studios is not a commercial studio, it's a messy 8-track studio in the back room of my house. This studio is not for use or rent to the public. If you knew what was in it, you wouldn't want to. What's in it?: a Tascam 388 reel-to-reel 8 track (but only 7 tracks seem to work at the moment), a Tascam 22-2 two track for mix-down, and a Tascam cassette 4-track. There's also a couple mics, some basic tube pre-amps, a spring reverb, and a few other low-budget studio type things. State of the art if we were living in 1985.
Do you have any more copies of ______ which have gone out of print?
Generally, what is listed in the contact/items for sale page is currently what I actually have on the shelf to sell. I do tend to pull a title off when I have only one or two copies left of something in order to avoid having five people ordering through Paypal at the same time when I really only have one copy left. So there are times when I actually do have one or two copies left of something which I then forget about. So, you can email me if there's something you're looking for and can't find in all the other usual places (the record label, mail order, distro, etc.) and I'd be happy to take one last look around.
What guitars/effects, etc. do you use?
These days I've been mostly using a black frankenstein Telecaster which I pieced together with spare parts based on Fender's 72 Telecaster Custom. It's got a regular telecaster pickup in the bridge and a P-90 in the neck. I also have an early 70's Gibson SG that I've had since I was 16 that has probably found its way onto just about every recording I've ever done. An old Harmony Rocket with a Bigsby and a Fender Mustang also show up from time to time. Main amp is a Fender Deluxe, the early records had a 70's Fender Twin. Effects: loads of stuff but an EH Memory Man, a Tube Screamer, a bunch of fuzz boxes, and a Boss Tremolo are the main ones. Also, a couple of cheap keyboards/organs and a bunch of half-broken traditional instruments from around the world are always in use.